RAPTOR PROCUREMENT: Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Michael Wynne has released a memorandum authorizing the Air Force to buy 22 Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptors for Lot 4 in fiscal 2004. The memorandum also approves advance procurement for F/A-22s the Air Force wants to procure for Lot 5 in FY '05.
The U.S. Navy will continue to look to companies outside the U.S. marine industry, including aerospace firms and international firms, to help develop key maritime technologies, according to Rear Adm. William Klemm. Klemm, deputy commander of the Logistics, Maintenance and Industrial Operations directorate for the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), said the Navy currently relies on the highly specialized skills sets of about 100,000 people in the maritime industry.
The Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche team is trying to ease the burden on Comanche pilots with an advanced cockpit interface that suppresses extraneous warning messages and simplifies the presentation of information. With this system, test pilots routinely experience no cautions or warnings during flights, said Rus Stiles, chief program test pilot for the Boeing-Sikorsky Comanche team.
After months of delays, Marine Corps Systems Command has chosen AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., to build the backpack-portable Dragon Eye unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, The DAILY has learned. Over the next five years, AeroVironment is expected to build approximately 300 Dragon Eye systems, each consisting of one ground station and three aircraft. A fixed-wing, battery-powered surveillance UAV with a 45-inch wingspan, the Dragon Eye is launched by hand or with a bungee cord and controlled through a laptop ground station.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Czech aircraft engine manufacturer Walter a.s. is poised to win a multi-million dollar order to supply at least 350 turboprop engines for a new Russian-designed light cargo/passenger aircraft. Walter is expected to soon sign a contract to supply its Aero 601 turboprop engines to a consortium jointly led by Russian aerospace company Kaskol.
AIM-9X IOC: The AIM-9X missile's achievement of initial operational capability with the U.S. Air Force was celebrated Nov. 13 at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, by the Navy and Raytheon Co. The 12th and 19th Fighter Squadrons of the 3rd Wing, 11th Air Force, are the first operational units to field and train with new short-range air-to-air missile. Formal operational evaluation has been completed and all Lot 1 deliveries were accomplished ahead of schedule.
Lockheed Martin Corp. briefed South Korean officials on the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a step that could pave the way for the Asian country to buy the aircraft. Lockheed Martin Corp. conducted the information-sharing sessions in South Korea earlier this month for representatives of the South Korean air force and Ministry of National Defense, a company spokesman told The DAILY Nov. 13.
SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., is auctioning off a private space mission aboard a microsatellite that would be based on the company's Maneuvering and orbital Transfer Vehicle (MTV). The auction is open on eBay (www.ebay.com) until Nov. 20. The minimum opening bid is $250,000, although the reserve - the price below which the sale won't be accepted - is considerably higher than that. A potential buyer also has the option of bypassing the auction and purchasing the mission outright for $9.5 million. At presstime there were no bids posted.
Leaders of the House Science Committee have stepped up their resistance to NASA's new Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program, proposing that an appropriations measure defer the spacecraft's development until the U.S. government comes up with a vision for space exploration.
JUNKERS AWARD: Jens Flottau, the Munich, Germany, correspondent for Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily, has been awarded the Hugo Junkers Award by the German Aviation Writers Association. The award is given annually for outstanding journalistic work in aviation and aerospace. Flottau received the award for his coverage of the demise of Fairchild Dornier, a regional aircraft manufacturer, a story he had followed since 1996.
Asian-Pacific countries could be the biggest buyers of small and medium-sized warships over the next six to seven years, according to several U.S. naval analysts. In a report released Nov. 12 in Singapore, naval analysts with AMI International of Bremerton, Wash., said new warship procurement in the Asia-Pacific region could grow from $7 billion in 2003 to $14 billion by 2009. Alan Garwood, a senior export official in the British Ministry of Defence, told the Reuters news agency that the Asia-Pacific market could become "enormous.
ALVEY SYSTEMS George Reyher has been appointed account manager for Latin America. BOEING-SIKORSKY, Bridgeport, Conn. Mike Blake has been appointed Comanche program director, replacing Charles "Chuck" Allen, who has been selected as vice president and program manager for Boeing's Orbital Space Program, headquartered in Huntsville, Ala. DRS TECHNOLOGIES, Parsippany, N.J. Patrick R. Marion has joined the company as vice president and general manager of the DRS Laurel Technologies unit in Johnstown, Pa.
The Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM), built by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control, has successfully completed its first controlled flight test, according to company officials. CKEM is a next-generation hypervelocity anti-tank missile that builds on technology used in the Army's Line-of-Sight Anti-Tank (LOSAT) missile, which still is in development. CKEM is being designed for direct-fire, close-in engagements of about 219 yards (200 meters) and ranges that exceed those of LOSAT.
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) signed a deal with Rosaviakosmos, the Russian aviation and space agency, for two unmanned Foton capsule flights, ESA said. The Foton-M2 and Foton-M3 missions will carry 660 kilograms (1,455 pounds) of scientific payloads scheduled for launch in May 2005 and late 2006. The flights are replacements for science missions lost in the launch failure of Foton-M1 on Oct. 15, 2002, and the space shuttle Columbia accident in February. Two Russian companies, KBOM of Moscow and TsSKB-Progress of Samara, will partner with Rosaviakosmos.
DEFENSE BILL: The Senate Nov. 12 approved the fiscal 2004 defense authorization conference report by a 95-3 vote. The legislation, which the House passed Nov. 7 (DAILY, Nov. 10), now heads to President Bush for his expected signature. The $401 billion measure authorizes $74 billion for procurement and $63 billion for research and development. It allows the Air Force to acquire 100 new Boeing KC-767A tanker aircraft by leasing 20 and buying the rest (DAILY, Nov. 7).
The General Accounting Office (GAO) endorsed the Department of Defense's new weapons acquisition policy in a new report, but recommended that the defense secretary strengthen the policy by requiring additional controls over managers when their programs reach crucial milestones.
Herley Industries will supply identification friend or foe (IFF) interrogators and transponder systems to the Republic of Korea navy for use on KDX II Batch III destroyers, the company said Nov. 12. The work will be done under $4 million in contract awards. "We are very pleased with these recent, additional contracts to provide communications systems for this multi-ship, multi-year program," President John M. Kelley said in a statement.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The 14 used F-16 aircraft that the U.S. government is offering to the Czech Republic in a five-nation bidding contest will have an operational life of at least 20 years, according to a senior Lockheed Martin official. David Potts, Lockheed Martin's international senior director for Central Europe, told journalists here Nov. 12 that the Block 15 F-16As offered would be equipped with new Pratt & Whitney engines and undergo two structural upgrades to ensure maximum operational capability.
The Missile Defense Agency's efforts to develop a space-based interceptor missile have suffered another blow, as the agency has decided against spending any money on the new initiative in the current fiscal year. Amid budget constraints and political resistance to space-based weapons, MDA has dropped plans to spend $14 million on research and concept definition for the space-based Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) in fiscal 2004, according to sources and documents. Any spending on space KEI will not take place until FY '05 at the earliest.
SSGN CONTRACT: The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a $6.9 million contract to make and install trainers for cruise missile submarine (SSGN) fire control systems. Trident Training Facilities at Kings Bay, Ga., and Bangor, Wash., are scheduled to receive the systems by May 2005. General Dynamics is developing and producing the SSGN attack weapon control system under a contract awarded in December 2002.
MOSCOW - The European Space Agency (ESA) would pay the Russian space industry 121 million euros ($139 million) under an agreement to launch Russian vehicles from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. A first payment could come next year, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. The agreement was signed last week during the visit of Boris Alyoshin, Russia's vice premier, to France.
